Taiga

Rob Saunders

Taiga

Rob Saunders

Location

The taiga is located near the northern hemisphere. The taiga, being the largest terrestrial biome, stretches across North America, Europe, and Asia. The taiga is also found in cool and high elevated locations.

General Charaterists

The taiga is ussauly cold beacuse of its location and the breeze from the arctic in spite of this cold you can still aometimes see green because there are evergreens in the taiga. It has a lot of evergreens located around it. The taiga mostly overlays formally glaicered areas. The taiga has long days in the summer and short ones in the winter because of the tilt of the earth.

Weather, Climate, and Precipitation

The taiga is a really cold biome with tons of different tempters in the summer and winter. The summer is ussaly a wet, humid, and mild summer. In spite of it being a wet place fires usually start during the summer and while most people think that this is bad for the biome its oddly enough good for this biome. The fires burn out the old stick trees to make room for new stronger trees. While you can never really saw that the taiga is warm in the summer it is fairly warmer then the winter. In the winters the taiga gets really cold and it starts to snow and has a temperature high at 30 F (-1 C) and a low at -65 F (-54 C). During the summer the temperature high is at 70 F (21 C) and its low at 20 F (-7 C). In the taiga it both rains and snows a lot. The amount of precipitation for a year is 10 - 30 inches (25 -75 cm). Since it snows a lot during the winter the ground sometimes freezes

The taiga snowing in the winter

The taiga at the begging of summer

The taiga in the winter

The taiga snowing in the winter

The taiga at the begging of summer

The taiga in the winter

Landforms

The taiga is a biome that has plains and lakes as some popular landforms. One plain in the taiga is called the Taiga Plains the Taiga Plains typicaical features have plenty of shrubs and some times there is ice on it. The taiga also has two lakes called Great Slave and Great Bear these lakes were carved by glaciers many years ago.

Animals

Bald Eagle

The Bald Eagle is one of the many animals that live in the taiga. The Bald Eagle is mostly located in the North American part of the taiga. The Bald Eagle has a diet of mostly dead animals but it will eat things that are still alive too. It's diet along with its fur is one of the many reasons it can live in the taiga. This eagle has really sharp talons that allows it to grab its prey quickly and then fly away with its majestic wings. Even the fact that it can make its nest on the ground in a tree or mountain shows that the bird is strong and can live in the taiga.

Gray Wolf

The Grey Wolf is the largest wild canine, and can live practically any where their is a lot of food and it is pretty cold. So the taiga is the perfect spot for the Grey Wolf to go and live because not only is it cold their it also has a good amount of animals for the wolf to snack on. While the taiga is the perfect spot for the Grey Wolf to live it still needs to make some adaptions in order to live there, like for example it has a coat of fur that is made of wool and it provides protection and insulation from the cold. Another adaption is they have very sharp eyesight that allows them to detect movement and prey easily. They can also see in the dark which allows them to hunt at night for the moose and caribou that they call prey! Like all wolfs the Grey Wolf travels in a pack and is very protective over their territory.

Snowshoe Rabbit

One of biggest advantages that the Snowshoe Rabbit has is it can camouflage to its surroundings. Like for example if its winter the rabbit can turn as white as the snow on the ground and if its summer it changes to a rusty copper color. If a predator was chasing the Snowshoe Rabbit it would be able to get away quickly and hide because it can run at 27 mph and the camouflage in the snow or the leaves! If that doesn't impress you well here's something that should this rabbit can jump 10 feet in the air in just one hop! I mean think about it some humans are 7 foot 4 and stuff well this rabbit can hop over that persons had in just one hop. If I was this rabbits predator I would be pretty worn out.

Red Fox

The Red Fox like many other animals that live in the taiga is able to live in cold living conditions. The Red Fox adapts to the environment by resting in an abandoned burrow during the day and having fur that helps keep it warm. The Red Fox is a intelligent, sly, and nocturnal. It is also a carnivore and eats small animals like rabbits and hares.

River Otter

The River Otter can survive in the taiga for many reasons. One of those reasons is because it has two layers of fur. The other is its eyes are located on top of its head this adaptation allows it to swim under water but still be able to see above the water. Its nose is even located near the top which allows it to breath when ever most of its body is hidden. The River Otter is a omnivore it eats fish, shellfish, snails, beetles, and amphibians.

Plants

White Fir

The White Fir is sometimes used as a Christmas tree. It can liv ego be over 300 years old. The tree has sturdy branches which probably allow it to live through the harsh snow that happens in the winter. The White Fir is good for lumber and it smells really good.

Jack Pine

The Jack Pine is a tall tree that might grow to be 27 meters tall. It's bark is redish brown and is flat. As the tree gets older the bark gets more gray much like humans hair, but along with the bark changing colors the diameter of the tree gets larger and larger. Instead of having leaves that might catch snow the Jack Pine has needles that allows the snow to flow off of the branches and pines. The Jack Pine mostly lives in colder areas and is often found in sandy soil.

White Poplar

This tree doesn't live very long it. It has silvery white leaves and white on the bark on the branches. This tree is usually used to make shade and it is also used for lumber but nothing else because the trees roots get deep in the ground and cause trouble down below by either breaking the drain pipes or the sewer.

Black Spruce

The Black Spruce is a tall tree that can grow to be 25 meters tall. The wood on the tree is strong and sturdy which is why the lumber from it is used to make houses. As the Spruce gets older the tip of the tree gets more like a crown. It needles are designed to allow the snow to flow off the tree easily. The Black Spruce has pinecones and the pinecones allow the tree to reproduce y just dropping them (much like how an oak tree drops oaks).

Paper Birch

The Paper Birch tree can be pulled into small pieces and divided into thin sheets much like paper. The Paper Birch trees mostly grow in clusters or pairs. Paper Birch trees were used by the Indians to make Birchbark canoes. While that am have been pretty far back it is still used today by many present day Indians to make nice ornaments and small baskets.

Ecologily Concerns or Issures

Humans come to he taiga and cut down a lot of the trees and cause problems for the environment. Not only does cutting down the trees cause the plants in the taiga to be reduced it also causes the animals to have less places to live. Hunters hunt the wildlife in the taiga and cause them to die and soon become extinct. The taiga is also effected by global warming because the ice in the taiga is melting.

Here's a cool video I found it has all the biomes but the taigas in there too.